Micha Wald's filmography hints at an atypical and unusual director, who switches from a Cossack adventure to an intergenerational road movie, equally at ease in the wide, open spaces as he is with Jewish humour. With his next film, Anvers, he will be stepping onto new terrain with a gangster movie. One thing, however, unites all his projects: family.
Micha Wald discovered the atmosphere of film sets during his childhood since he performed in a few films, notably those by Boris Lehman. While these experiences no doubt led him to the INSAS, where he studied film editing, his fundamental encounter with the art of telling stories comes from hours spent playing with Playmobils with his brother, acting out and even reconstituting the great events of History, from the Crusades to the discovery of America via the invasion of Poland. A love of stories and of History that was continued through role-playing and then, of course, through his work as a filmmaker.
His first feature, VOLEURS DE CHEVAUX (Critics' Week, Cannes 2007), was a direct result of this desire for adventure and wide, open spaces. This Cossack tale, with a biblical western option, follows the experiences of two couples of brothers and their bitter confrontation. This organic movie in which the image makes plenty of space for the elements is served by the lighting of Jean-Paul de Zaeytijd (who features in the credits of Bouli Lanners' movies). A film marked by journeys, quests and pursuits, VOLEURS DE CHEVAUX takes place in the wide, open spaces.
But Micha Wald is not a filmmaker confined to one genre, even if his films are marked by recurrent leitmotifs and echo one another. And so, the brothers of LES GALETS herald those of VOLEURS DE CHEVAUX, and the Simon of ALICE ET MOI (his third short) becomes the star of LES FOLLES AVENTURES DE SIMON KONIANSKI, his second feature. While we once again find a road movie leitmotif, the change in tone and style is radical. However, in relating how the hero returns his late father's body to his homeland, Micha Wald discreetly tackles History once again, approaching it from the sidelines and focusing on the details.
His next project, ANVERS, currently nearing the end of writing, leads him into the world of the thriller in which a father and his sons tear each other apart within the heart of the murky Mafia of the Antwerp diamond trade.
